It’s weird walking past a building that’s been part of your weekly routine for a decade and seeing nothing but "Store Closing" signs or, worse, those giant sheets of plywood. If you’ve spent any time in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles or the borough of Highland Park in New Jersey, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The Highland Park Rite Aid situation isn't just about losing a place to buy overpriced greeting cards or a gallon of milk at 10 PM.
It's actually a mess.
Between massive corporate bankruptcy filings, a changing retail landscape, and a opioid litigation settlement that basically gutted the company’s bank accounts, these neighborhood anchors are vanishing. People are frustrated. They should be. When a pharmacy closes, it isn't just a business failing; it’s a healthcare gap opening up in the middle of a community.
The Financial Collapse Nobody Saw Coming (Until It Was Too Late)
Rite Aid Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2023. That’s the big "why" behind the boards on the windows. You might think, "Wait, everyone needs medicine, how do they lose money?" Well, it’s complicated. The company was drowning in billions of dollars of debt. They were also facing over a thousand lawsuits alleging they over-prescribed painkillers.
In Highland Park, CA—specifically the location on Figueroa Street—the closure felt like a gut punch to a street that’s already rapidly gentrifying. One day you’re picking up a prescription, and the next, there’s a sign telling you your records have been transferred to a CVS three miles away. That's a long walk if you don't have a car.
The New Jersey Highland Park location on Raritan Avenue faced a similar fate. It’s a pattern. Rite Aid decided to shed "underperforming" stores, but their definition of underperforming often ignores how much a specific neighborhood relies on that specific footprint.
Why the Figueroa Street Spot Was Special
Los Angeles’ Highland Park is a specific kind of place. It’s dense. It’s historic. The Rite Aid there wasn't just a store; it was a landmark in a transit-oriented district. When the company started shuttering locations across California—over 100 in the first wave alone—the Highland Park Rite Aid was high on the list of casualties.
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Retail experts like those at Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal pointed out that Rite Aid simply couldn't compete with the scale of CVS or the deep pockets of Walgreens. They were the "third player" in a game that only has room for two. Plus, they didn't have the same integration with insurance providers that their competitors did.
The Impact on Local Health and Access
When a pharmacy leaves, "pharmacy deserts" happen. This isn't just some buzzword. It's a real problem where elderly residents or people with limited mobility suddenly find themselves without a way to get life-saving medication.
Honestly, the transition is usually a nightmare.
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- Prescription Transfers: Usually, Rite Aid sells its prescription scripts to a nearby competitor.
- Insurance Gaps: Just because Rite Aid took your insurance doesn't mean the new pharmacy will.
- Wait Times: When one store closes, the nearby ones get flooded. Suddenly, a five-minute pickup takes forty-five.
In Highland Park, NJ, the loss of the Raritan Avenue store meant a shift in the local ecosystem. People who used to walk to the pharmacy now have to plan a whole trip. It changes the "walkability" score of a town, which sounds nerdy, but it actually affects property values and how much people enjoy living there.
The Real Estate Side of the Story
What happens to the buildings? That’s the big question for the Highland Park Rite Aid sites. In many cases, these are prime pieces of real estate. In Los Angeles, they often sit empty for months because the leases are tangled up in bankruptcy court.
Developers are circling. You’ll probably see these spaces turned into "mixed-use" developments—think luxury apartments over a boutique coffee shop. While that might look "nicer" than a beige drug store, it doesn't help the person who needs a flu shot or a cheap bottle of aspirin.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Closures
People often blame "the economy" or "online shopping" for these closures. While Amazon Pharmacy is definitely a factor, it’s not the whole story. Rite Aid’s downfall was largely internal. They over-leveraged themselves. They bought too many smaller chains (like the Thrifty PayLess acquisition years ago) and never fully integrated them.
They also struggled with "shrink." That’s the industry term for theft. While some people claim theft is the only reason stores close, retail analysts note that it’s usually just one item on a long list of failures, including poor management and a lack of investment in store aesthetics.
How to Handle Your Healthcare Post-Closure
If your local Highland Park Rite Aid has shuttered or is about to, don't wait for the last day to figure it out. The company is legally required to notify you, but mail gets lost.
- Check your records: Log into the Rite Aid app or website immediately to download your prescription history. Once the store is gone, getting that data can be a bureaucratic slog.
- Call your doctor: Don't rely on the "automatic transfer" to a new pharmacy. Sometimes things get lost in the digital shuffle. Have your doctor send a fresh script to a pharmacy of your choice, not the one Rite Aid sold your data to.
- Explore local independents: This is the best time to look for an independent pharmacy. They often provide better service and can sometimes match prices on generics.
The era of the "big three" drugstores is shrinking. We’re moving toward a model where you either get your meds via mail-order or you visit a massive one-stop-shop like Target or Walmart. The loss of the Highland Park Rite Aid is a symptom of that shift. It’s less convenient, it’s less personal, and it’s a reminder that even the biggest corporate giants can vanish if they aren't careful.
Next Steps for Residents
Check the current status of your nearest location via the official Rite Aid store locator, as the list of closures is updated weekly in bankruptcy court filings. If your store is marked as "permanently closed," contact your primary care physician to verify where your active refills were sent. For those in Highland Park, CA, looking for alternatives, the remaining pharmacies on York Blvd or in nearby Eagle Rock are currently absorbing the local patient load, so expect longer wait times for the foreseeable future. If you are in Highland Park, NJ, local independent pharmacies on the north side of town are often better equipped to handle manual insurance overrides than the big-box alternatives.